Combination water and room heater



`Ian. 6, 1942. Q, G, WATT 29258;?89

COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Filed June 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet lZ5 Z2 Z6 47 38 figg rz.

Jan. 6, 1942. Q, WATT COMBINATION WATER AND RooM HEATER Filed June 22,1959 Shee"r,s-Shee"f. 2

Jan. 6, 1942. O. G. WATT COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Jan. 6, 1942.o, G, WAT-r 2,268,789

COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Filed June 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4"New @13 M174* QA Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECOMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Oscar G. Watt, Tulsa, Okla.

Application June 22, 1939, Serial No. 280,639

Claims.

'I'his invention relates to a combination water heater and room heaterand more particularly to one employing a conventional insulated watertank. This application is a continuation in part of applicants priorapplication No. 273,803 tiled May 15,1939.

Some ofthe objects of the invention are:

To utilize the favorable and eliminate the unfavorable features oi thepresent day automatic water heaters and to provide an apparatus thatwill perform a dual service, that of heating water and room air, yeteach service being under the separate control of the user;

To provide a bathroom heater that will eliminate the open flame gas oroil heating stove in the bathroom which has a triple hazard, that ofburning the unclad bather, asphyxiation of the bather, or burning thebuilding by some article of clothing or a towel being carelessly tossedon the stove;

To provide a heater that will insure a warm bathroom when there is hotwater for the bath, this being particularly advantageous during theearly Fall or late Spring when the general house heating plant is not inoperation; and

To furnish a heater which, if located in a kitchen., will serve to keepthe kitchen warm during the times when cooking is not being done, butwill prevent the overheating of the kitchen by the water heater whilecooking.

In bathrooms which are heated by a radiator or the like from a steamheating system or like heating system for the house, the radiators andtheir necessary connections present an unsightly appearance by theirunconcealed fixtures and fittings, also such radiators occupyunnecessary floor space and are not insulated so that the bather issubjected to the possibility of becom- -ing burned. Furthermore, in sucha heating apparatus, it is connected to the house heating plant andtherefore it is necessary that the heating plant be inr operation tosupply heat. This has its disadvantages in that at certain times of theyear, such as early fall and late spring, it is desirous to have thebathroom heated, yet the weather is not sufficiently cold to warrant theoperation oi the home heating plant. It is therefore an object of thisinvention to supply a heating unit for a bathroom or the like which isconnected to the hot water circulating system independently of the homeheating system, thus utilizing the same hot water that supplies thedomestic iixtures for furnishing heat to a room any time there is hotwater present in the hot water tank.

A further object is to provide a heater having an enclosing casing soprotected as to prevent the same from becoming hot enough to burn theskin.

An additional object is to provide a combined hot water heater and roomheater having a casing that conceals substantially all unsightly pipesand fittings.

A still further object is to produce a relatively simple and inexpensivecombination heater and yet one which will be exceedingly effective forthe purpose for which it is designed. With the foregoing objectsoutlined and with other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in the novel featureshereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and more particu ularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a iront elevation partly in vertical section of a conventionalhot water heater provided with my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away to illustrateinternal elements.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the line llof Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a modification.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the modication.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the circulating pipe portion of thethermal web which acts as a heat exchanger.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a piece of sheet melgal which may beused as part of the thermal we Referring to the drawings, 9 designates aconventional hot Water heater comprising supporting legs l on whichrests a pan bottom il having a central opening l2 to admit air into acombustion chamber i3. An annular inner wall i4 of metal rests on thepan il, and a partition i5 serves as the bottom of a water chamber i6and as the top of the combustion chamber.

Any suitable heater such as a gas burner il is arranged in thecombustion chamber and is supplied with gas through a pipe i8. The flowof gas to the burner is controlled by a thermostatic element I9 whichextends into the water chamber.

A central nue 20 extends through the water chamber as well as throughthe top 2| of the latter and is connected with a conventional vent pipe22.

An outer jacket 23 of any suitable material is and this space is filledwith insulating material 24.

Cold water is introduced into the tank through a pipe 25 which extendsdownwardly through the top of the tank and terminates close to itsbottom l5. Hot water is discharged from the top of the tank through apipe 25 having a T connection 2 through which the hot water may pass toa pipe 23 leading to domestic fixtures, or through a pipe 29 to myimproved thermal jacket which will now be described. Such jacketcomprises a metallic pipe skeleton comprising an upper annular tube ormanifold 30, a lower annular tube or manifold 3i, and vertical pipes 32which place the manifolds in communication. The pipe skeleton surroundsthe hot water tank and hot water is fed to the upper end of the samethrough the pipe 29 and is discharged through a pipe 33 at the lower endwhich leads back to the water tank and is provided with a control valve34. Whenever the valve 34 is open, hot water can circulate through thesystem of pipes 35, 32 and 3l. Instead of making the water conduits ofpipes, obviously this portion of the jacket might be in the form of acasting, and in either event clean-out plugs (not shown) might beprovided to facilitate cleaning.

35 designates heat conducting sheet portions of the thermal jacket whichmay consist of any.

suitable thin heat conducting material such as sheet copper or brass.The surface of such sheet material, obviously, may be smooth,corrugated, as indicated at 36 (Fig. 8), or perforated, as indicated at31. If corrugated metal is used, the corrugations preferably extendvertically. The sheet material is stretched from one conduit 32containing the'heating medium, to another and bonded to the conduits bygood heat-conducting bonds. The web is so arranged that air contactingit becomes heated and is permitted to rise and pass on. This heat istransferred from'the water to the room air.

As best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the thermal web is cut so as to formoutwardly and downwardly extending tongues 38 to give the rising air azigzag motion back and forth through the heater, or to change theascending currents of air from one channel to another.

A passageway for the air is provided by arranging a'. casing 39 of anysuitable material such as sheet metal about the conventional hot waterheater, If the heater is round, I prefer to make the casing square sothat the corner spaces within the casing may be occupied by portions 35of the web. In round heaters, this corner space is wasted, as a roundheater takes up practically the same oor space as a square one. It willbe obvious that my arrangement of the thermal jacket makes it possibleto secure a large amount of heating surface in the thermal web, as theweb need not be confined to the corner spaces but can extend entirelyaround the pipe skeleton, as will be apparent from Figs. and 6.

The operation of the thermal jacket is the same as any gravitycirculating system of hot water and air. By opening the valve 34, whichmay be either on the supply or return connection, a circulation of hotwater is set up which in turn induces a circulation of air in thepassageway between the heater and the jacket 39.

When the valve is closed, both circulation of water and air ceases andthe small amount of water in the pipe skeleton 30, 3l, 32 simply takeson the room air temperature and there is no exchange of heat. Obviouslythe thermal jacket can be made round as well as square, but in such caseone would lose the advantage of the corner spaces.

There will be very little condensation from this type of heater, for aslong as there is any hot water at all in the tank, the thermal jacketwill be warm, and it is seldom that cold water would be in the pipeskeleton. However, to take care of condensation, I arrange a trough 4l!in the air passageway around the lower portion of the wall 23, and anannular shed 4i about the inner surface of the jacket 39. Condensationgathering in the trough 4@ iiows through a pipe 42 into a receptacle d3arranged in the combustion chamber and due to the heat therein, will bevaporized and discharged through the ue 2B. The shed di diverts anycondensate which it receives into a pan 44 on which the entirelstructure may rest.

For the purpose of supporting the casing 39 I may arrange invertedU-shaped supports 45 within the pan 44 to support internal brackets 45,secured to the lower end portion of the casing.

At the upper end portion of the casing I provide internal brackets 4lwhich are secured to the casing and rest on metal bars 48 mounted on thetop of the water heater. They may be secured to the latter by anysuitable means such as screws 49, and they also function to support thethermal jacket, as the upper manifold 30 rests on such bars and may besecured thereto by retaining clamps 50.

The hot water tank may be provided with a conventional drain valve 5i(Fig. 2) and the casing 33 may be provided with removable doors 52 and53 provided with handles 54.

The air will enter the lower end of the casing through the space betweenits lower edge and the upper edge of the pan 44 and, in travelingupwardly, will be diverted toward the water heater by means of thetongues 38, so as to prevent the casing from becoming hot enough tocause a burn.

Instead of having the casing entirely surround the heater, I may extendthe same only partially around, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. Inthese gures, t-he casing 39a is mounted on the heater 9a by a suitablemeans.' For example, it may be provided at its upper end with a strap 55which rests on the top of the heater. The ends of the strap are in theform of wings 56 which are arranged at diametrically opposite sides ofthe heater and are connected to the front edge portions 5l of thecasing; such edge portions being secured to diametrically opposite sidesof the heater. In this form of the invention, the pipe skeleton 53through which the hot water from the boiler is circulated, is providedwith a thermal web 59 which may be of substantially the same area as theweb used in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. This is accomplished by arranging alarger number of plates in the smaller space allowed by the smallcasing.

I wish it distinctly understood that my improved combination room andwater heater as described and illustrated is in forms which I prefer inconstructing it, and that changes and variations may be made as may beconvenient Vor desirable without departing from the salient features ofthe invention, and I therefore intend the following claims to cover suchmodications as naturally fall within the lines of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In an individual room heater for small dwellings comprising adomestic hot water heater having an upstanding round hot water tank, aninsulated jacket cooperating with the outer periphery of the tank, anangular casing having a wall cooperating with the outer periphery of thejacket to form an air passageway, hot water conducting means having heatconducting portions arranged in said passageway, said means beingoperatively connected to the tank to cause circulation of hot water fromthe upper portion of the tank to a lower portion thereof, thermal webmeans connected to the heat conducting portions or said means andarranged in said passageway, means for admitting cold air into the lowerend of said passageway, means provided in the web to cause rising air topass through the web and toward the heater, and means for discharginghot air from the upper end of said passageway.

2. In a domestic hot Water heater having a hot water tank, an insulatedjacket disposed adjacent the outer periphery of the tank, an angularcasing having a wall cooperating with the outer periphery of the jacketto form an air passageway, hot water conducting means having heatconducting portions arranged in said passageway, said means beingoperatively connected to the tank to cause circulation of hot water fromthe upper portion of the tank to the lower portion thereof, andcomprising a plurality of horizontally disposed pipes interconnectingwith a plurality of vertically disposed pipes, a thermal web meansconnected to the vertical pipespi said means, means for admitting coldair ,into the lowerl en d of said passageway, and means for discharginghot air from the upper end of said pass'a'geway.

3. In combination with a domestic hot water heater having an upstandinground hot water tank, an insulated jacket disposed adjacent to the outerperiphery of the tank, a casing having a wall cooperating with the outerperiphery of the jacket to form an air passageway, hot water conductingmeans comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed pipesinterconnecting with Vertically disposed pipes arranged in saidpassageway, said horizontal pipes being operatively connected to thetank to provide circulation of the water from the upper portion of thetank to the lower p0rtion thereof, a thermal web means connected to thevertical pipes of said means, parts of said web being positioned withinthe corners of the casing, means for admitting cold air into the lowerend of said passageway and means for discharging hot air from the upperend of said passageway.

4. In. combination with a hot water heater, a jacket having a wallspaced from the wall of the heater to provide an air passageway, hotwater conducting means arranged in said passageway and connected withthe heater to permit circulation of hot water from the heater throughsaid conducting means, said means comprising a plurality of horizontallyspaced pipes interconnecting with a plurality of vertically disposedpipes, a thermal web means connected to the vertical pipes, a pluralityof tongues provided in the web for directing rising air toward theheater, and means cooperating with said jacket for discharging air fromthe passageway.

5. In combination with a hot water heater hav- .ing a tank, an insulatedjacket surrounding the outerperiphery of the tank, a casing having a'portion spaced froml the outer periphery of the jacket to provide anair passageway, a plurality of horizontally disposed pipesinterconnecting with a plurality of vertically disposed pipes andoperativelyconnected to 'the tank to provide circulation of hot waterfrom'fthe upper portion of the tank to the lowerportion thereof, athermal web means connected to the vertical pipes, means cooperatingwith said jacket provided in the web to direct rising air in thepassageway toward the heater, and means for discharging hot air fromtheupper end of the passageway.

@SCAR G- WATT.

